Every election year, we hear candidates pledging that they’re going to “broaden the map” and “put states in play” that weren’t the previous cycle. Every year, candidates’ strategists respond to questions about what states are in play by exuberantly reciting a list of states that sound like Howard Dean’s Iowa rant.

And then, as summer turns to fall, and resources start getting limited, they choose to focus. Team Obama has pulled its people out of Georgia, out of Alaska, and their North Dakota folks are being transferred to Minnesota and Wisconsin.

As of July 30, Obama had spent more on television adverstising in North Dakota ($160,000) than in Indiana ($88,000).

Team Obama spent $22,000 in North Dakota in the week after the conventions; Team McCain spent less than $1,000.